©Children’s Parliament 2020

Our Friendships Activity: Fortune Teller During lockdown, children have told Children’s Parliament that one of the most difficult parts of schools closing has been not being able to see their friends. Many children are excited to return to school to be reunited with friends but are also experiencing different levels of anxiety and worry about friendships. A Fortune Teller is a useful tool for children to speak to others about what they need to build positive friendships, but it can be easily adapted for many different topics.

Links to Curriculum for Excellence Experiences and Outcomes

• I know that friendship, caring, sharing, fairness, equality and love are important in building positive relationships. As I develop and value relationships, I care and show respect for myself and others. HWB 2-05a / HWB 3-05a

• I understand that people can feel alone and can be misunderstood and left out by others. I am learning how to give appropriate support. HWB 2-08a / HWB 3-08a

• I value the opportunities I am given to make friends and be part of a group in a range of situations. HWB 2-14a / HWB 3-14a

Learning Intentions • Learners discuss what helps them to form positive relationships. • Learners understand what trust, empathy, sharing and love means, feels and

looks like. Duration 1 hour What You Need

• Template M (printed on A3 thin card or paper, one per child) • Colouring pens • Scissors or guillotine

It is helpful to prepare an example to show the children. Cut out the square shape and fold the along the dotted lines to assemble. For younger children, you might find it best to pre-cut their individual squares using a guillotine or scissors.

©Children’s Parliament 2020

Activity Bring everyone together in a circle to introduce the activity. Explain that in this session they will be creating a Fortune Teller to talk about different things that are needed to have positive friendships. Show them a folded/ready prop. Explain that you are going to put the following four words will be written on the four outer boxes – Empathy, Sharing, Trust, Love. Explain to the children that in the game, you will ask someone to choose one of the four words. If, for example, the chooser picks ‘love’, you spell out the word, moving the fortune teller in and out for each letter (in this case, four times). The fortune teller will then reveal a series of numbers, which the chooser must pick from. Underneath the number will be a question about friendship for the chooser to answer. Before folding, ask the children to create questions for underneath the eight number flaps and decorate their fortune teller (see image). Examples of questions: Empathy (understanding how others feel by imagining ourselves in their shoes)

• When was a time someone understood how you were feeling? • Why is it important to understand how a friend is feeling?

Sharing

• How do you feel when a friend shares with you? • Can you give an example of sharing in the playground?

Trust (the opposite of being let down, trust is what binds us together)

• What does trust look like? • How do you build trust between friends?

Love

• What can a friend do to make a child feel loved? • What might get in the way of a child feeling loved?

Next, ask the children to help one another to fold the fortune tellers. Fold the square in half along the centre line. Next, fold it diagonally the other way so there is a cross on the paper. With the paper unfolded and flat again, fold each corner into the centre. Turn it over and fold each corner into the centre again. To form creases, fold it in half one way, and again the other way. It then needs to be formed into the final shape (see image). Now, the children can play with their fortune tellers in pairs before sharing their answers with the wider group.

Our FriendshipsTemplate M: Fortune Teller

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